This will be the last blog for the Ireland Adventures…
The next day in Cork we got up and checked out of the hotel. We then loaded up the car and found a little coffee shop to get some a cappuccino and a scone.
We then hit the road and headed to the Cliffs of Moher. This was such an interesting drive as a lot of the roads were so narrow. The scenery was so beautiful though. We made it to the Cliffs and walked up one way and then back the other to get a good view of the two sides from the visitors center. We did not end up going any further than this because it was windy, cold and wet. It was such a beautiful view. Being from Florida which is so flat this was such a refreshing new look at the ocean and beach.
After our walk we were cold and hungry. We got some hot chocolate and sandwiches. I got a goat cheese and cranberry grilled panini and he got a sausage roll.
As we were leaving this raven let me take a bunch of pictures of him. Leaving from here we made our way to Galway. I took some pictures of the scenery, the sun setting, and a gas station with my name.
After checking into the hotel we walked around and did some shopping before the stores closed. There was this statue of the Galway Girl. Then we stopped for some dinner and we both got Shepherd’s pie. This was so good and there was so much of it. I tried my best to eat as much as I could but couldn’t finish it all.
In the morning we got up and went had breakfast at the hotel. We then checked out and had to make our way back to Dublin to fly out the next day. We took a detour and stopped to check out the Hill of Tara. This place was so neat and magical. There was a little girl walking with her Mom and she asked if we were there to look for the fairies. This made me think of my Mom and how she would have been looking for fairies and leprechaun’s the whole time. The shapes of the hill and being able to walk on them was so surreal to me. There was a statue of St. Patrick, a church, cemetery, and cross. One of the hills is called the Mound of Hostages which was a 5,000 year old passage tomb. There was also a standing stone which is called the Stone of Destiny. It was a bit wet and muddy to walk around. It is one of the oldest ancient sites in Ireland.
We stopped to have lunch at the little cafe there. I got a mocha latte and he got a cappuccino. Then we shared a sandwich and a brookie.
We then headed to our hotel near the airport. We found out the hotel had a shuttle to the airport so we decided to turn the car in that night instead of worrying about it in the morning. We took the car back and rode the shuttle back to the hotel. We decided to eat dinner in the hotel. I got a chicken sandwich and he got fish and chips. Of course he got a Guinness and I got an Orchard Thieves cider. After dinner we went back up to the room and repacked our suitcases to make sure everything fit comfortably.
The next morning we went to the airport early and checked out all the duty free shopping. Then it was time to head to the gate. It was pretty cool because Dublin has an American Customs pre-clearance. So once we went through that area we couldn’t leave it. The flight back home was a bit longer than the flight there. The food we ate on the plane wasn’t too bad. We got pretzel’s and a ginger ale. Then for dinner we got a feta salad, curry chicken and rice, a slice of soda bread and a white chocolate raspberry mousse. Then later in the flight we got a small ice cream. I ended up watch a couple of movies and tried to relax as best as I could.
When we got to Florida we had to get our bags and make our way to our car. Then we had a 2 hour drive home from there. It was a long day of traveling.
Ireland was such a beautiful place and I already miss it and can’t wait to go back and see some of the sites we missed because we didn’t have enough time. It felt like home there.
There were so many things that Ireland does that we don’t do here. They are more conscience about conservation. There is more accessibility there as far as the crosswalks having different sounds from when you push the button to when you can actually cross. All the menus not only had calorie counts but allergen information on them. They never take your credit card away from you and walk off with it, they actually bring a machine to the table. These machines all had the tap to pay feature on them. It feels like here at home the stores don’t have this feature as much.
Overall it was a great trip and I want to make sure we get more stamps on these passports then we did on our old ones.
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